And now a new court order is prompting Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials to hit the roads again. Beginning Friday, officials plan to move the majority of a Rosharon facility's inmates who were housed during the storm in a non-air-conditioned facility in Navasota, to a third site in Beaumont. More than 700 heat-sensitive evacuees will be transferred on Friday.

Once the inmate evacuees from the A.M. "Mac" Stringfellow Unit set foot at the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota, they were protected under an emergency injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison, requiring cool living quarters to heat vulnerable inmates.

Ellison found the indoor living conditions were dangerous for vulnerable Pack inmates in July. Prison officials chose to move the Pack inmates rather than bring in temporary air conditioning. Those accommodations were approved by the judge and transfers to air-conditioned prisons began in early August.

During Hurricane Harvey, officials decided to make use of the mostly-vacant Pack Unit, citing it as an extraordinary circumstance in which they needed to consider inmates' safety.

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Jeff Edwards, an Austin attorney handling class action by the Pack inmates, called TDCJ's leadership short-sighted, saying a more clear-cut solution would be to provide temporary air-conditioning on site.

"At some point, the leadership at this agency has to be held accountable not just for its indifference but also its incompetence," he said.

The judge issued his original order in a civil rights lawsuit brought by Pack Unit inmates, suing after 23 inmates died as a result of heat exposure at Texas prisons.

Now Ellison has issued a second court order. Prison officials will move heat-sensitive Stringfellow evacuees.

Buses are expected to complete the transfer 710 inmates on Friday, with heat sensitive Stringfellow evacuees moving from the Pack Unit to the Richard P. LeBlanc facility in Beaumont. In addtion, 382 inmates housed at Travis State Jail, who were part of the initial heat vulnerable group at Pack, will also be transferred to LeBlanc, according to Jason Clark, the TDCJ spokesman.

In all, Clark said he expects 3,352 inmates will board buses and change facilities in the coming days to accommodate the heat-related transfers, although some of these may include the same inmate boarding a bus twice:

-710 inmates originally at Stringfellow who were evacuated to the Pack Unit during Hurricane Harvey will be transferred to the LeBlanc Unit, which has air-conditioning.

-1,130 inmates at LeBlanc will be moved to nearby Larry Gist State Jail to accommodate the transfers.

-750 inmates from Gist will be moved to the Stringfellow Unit.

-382 inmates originally at the Pack Unit, who were transferred to Travis State Jail, will now be moved to LeBlanc.

-380 inmates from Gist will be transferred to the Travis State Jail.

Gabrielle Banks covers federal courts for the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter or send tips to gabrielle.banks@chron.com